A Temporal Anomaly
by Sly Fox 127
Summary: After a millennium of fighting, a man witnesses it all come to a fiery end as earth is consumed in an inferno. In the last moments before the end, something plunges him far into the future. Damaging his body beyond repair, his body is transformed, giving him the opportunity of a carefree life. That is, until an old enemy surfaces that has the intent of destroying him.
1. A Time Long Past

Chapter 1: A Time Long Past

There was nothing I could do except watch, watch as the roaring white hot flames slowly engulfed my home. The home I had fought for so long to defend, the home that cracked under the oppression of the war. A war that, despite the horrors it inflicted, never seemed to end. And after a millennium, a single small organization, not known to either of the prominent factions, was able to build and successfully detonate a doomsday device, without anyone noticing. Of course, we all noticed it after the initial reports came in of a massive wall of fire expanding across the planet, destroying everything in its way. The funny thing was, even though it was a world ending catastrophe, it was oddly comforting when I first heard about it, and the only thought that would form in my head was how the human race deserved every bit of it. I guess it was a bit ironic too, how the organization detonated the device on New Year's day, as if to say, here you go earth, have a new life.

I thought back to the day the war started, and not when the nations of the world picked a side in the all out brawl, but the day of the largest strike on the experimental research lab. I glanced back up at my computer, ensuring all systems were green before giving the all clear to begin the antimatter containment test. Reaching towards the intercom, my head was slammed into my desk as a massive explosion shook the entire underground facility. It was not the first time we had been attacked, but this certainly was the largest attack yet. Agencies for years have attempted to get their hands on the research we were doing down here, knowing that every last drop of it could change the world in their favor. I lifted my head slowly, afraid I might have a concussion, and not wanting to damage my brain any more than I already have. My computer now flashed with all sorts of warnings on it, but only one caught my attention. The storage containment field for stabilized antimatter was experiencing magnetic fluctuations in the main containment field. Bringing up a detailed map of the base which indicated what areas were damaged in the explosion, and what areas were compromised by hostiles, I plotted my path to the main containment room to go and fix the problem before it resulted in a massive antimatter detonation that would annihilate everything in a ten-mile radius.

Proceeding down the smoke and debris filled halls, moving slowly to not trip while staying low to avoid the black smoke curling about at the top of the passageway. As I was approaching the massive room where the containment tank was stored, another blast caused me to drop to the ground as the floor trembled as if it was an earthquake. Half crawling, I made it to the door and forced my way inside just to see a shockwave of energy swiftly moving towards me. Bracing myself against the wall, the shockwave slammed into me, knocking the air straight out of my lungs. Groaning, I made my way to the only other scientist alive in the chamber, demanding to know what in the world was going on. He answered my question with a few fragmented sentences, saying the containment field was failing and the harvester was overloaded and now seemingly gathering energy similar to the properties of red matter. Both he and I knew that if the red matter reached critical mass then the result would be much more catastrophic than an antimatter detonation, as red matter creates black holes. And that's when I came up with my brilliant life threatening idea that probably would have gotten me killed if I was not so close to the epicenter of the resulting explosion. I explained my idea to the other scientist, and seeing that was the only thing we could do with the materials and time we had, we quickly got to work. Lining up metal support beams and charging them with electricity caused them to create a moving magnetic barrier that would allow small amounts of antimatter to traverse through. With the rapid drumming sound that could only be associated with a machine gun, we quickly activated the machine, ensuring we didn't overload the magnetic field and cause a premature explosion.

Less than a minute into the processes, multiple bullets stray bullets made their way through the open door, causing both of us to duck for cover. The majority of the bullets missed anything important, but one or two it the red matter that was collecting, upsetting the molecular structure of the red matter causing a premature reaction that created a miniature black hole directly in from of my eyes. Alarms immediately starting blaring from the console, indicating that the magnetic field were all but no existent. I ran to the antimatter containment tank seeing If I could direct more power to it while the other scientist ran to behind the matter collector seeing if he could reverse the processes and deposit the upset matter back to where it came from. Less than a minute after the miniature black hole formed, the antimatter broke out of the tank and molecules were snapped in half, and the last thing both of us saw was a red and black flash before we awoke in a completely flattened and destroyed room. I was pretty sure that the blast should have killed both of us until the room caved in with a small squad of masked men rappelled into the lab. As they landed, they grabbed the scientist that was across the room and shot back up into the shadows. I watched still stunned about surviving the explosion when a hand grabbed my shoulder and started to pull me backward. I managed to glance up and see the commanding officer in the base, or what is left of the base, dragging me out of the lab as the memory slowly started to fade away. Sighing, I came to realize that the scientist who the enemy captured never actually left the shadows.

I flew at a steady pace, making sure that the wall of fire never caught up to me, all while taking long looks outside the window of my airplane. I looked at how barren the landscape was, filled with the sorrows of the countless generations of all life forms that died because of humanities war. I glanced at my navigation computer, making sure that the course I set was the right one. Flying alone like this, constantly checking the airplane's computers reminded me of a time when I lost my rear stabilizers and had to make an emergency landing after a combat mission. Flying steady, I cursed at a slower speed than I would have liked, but I couldn't risk getting detected. All at once, multiple lights and a single constant beeping went off in the cockpit of my plane, alerting me to multiple radar locks. Seconds later, a few more lights started flashing while a more intruding alarm went off, telling me that the SAM batteries had fired and I had multiple missile locks on my plane. Firing the forward bottom thruster, I flipped my plane 90 degrees upward in less than a second and fired the afterburners, rocketing my plane skyward. Gaining enough height, I flipped the plane downwards 180 degrees so I was facing the incoming missiles. Activating my twin 8mm Pulse Laser Cannons on the underside of my plane, I fired off multiple rounds, destroying the incoming missiles with pinpoint accuracy. Pulling my plane up as I soared towards the ground, I glanced down and saw multiple airborne radar contacts that I marked as enemy fighters.

Firing off my afterburners again, I launched the plane forward to increase the gap between me the enemy planes. Before I could get out of their weapons range, one of them open fired on the rear engine compartment, damaging the left engine and the lateral stabilizers. Flipping the plane to face upwards again, I fired all of my bottom thrusters, throwing myself behind of the enemy fighters. Doing 270 degrees backward rotation, completing my flip, I locked on to two the left most fighter and fired off a missile while turning my attention to the fighter on the right. The fighter I was chasing turned his plane skywards, and me unable to follow the maneuver without my stabilizer, banked sharply to re-engage the fighter that I launched the missile at. The enemy fighter, completely surprised by my planes maneuverability, was in no position to dodge when I fired off a few rounds from my Pulse Cannons, shattering the enemy planes engine. Losing momentum, the plane started to drop like a stone as the pilot ejected. The sound of gunfire caused me to jerk my stick to the right, causing my plane to violently shudder from such a move without lateral control and as a few rounds ripped through my wing. The last enemy plane, pulling up after its strafing run, passed right into my crosshairs and I slammed my finger into the trigger on my stick, letting out a barrage of laser fire that completely shredded the enemy fighters fuselage. Returning to the task at hand, I slowly cruised back towards the landing strip that I was supposed to land at after my mission was complete. Looking back out my window at the wall of fire traveling behind me, I wished that the world that was left would not be so boring and those bursts of exciting action could still sneak into my life. Deciding it was about time to actually get moving towards my destination, I banked the plane and accelerated towards a point in the middle of nowhere.

Around an hour later, I brought my ship to a hover in the dead center of my destination, which was the calculated point where the flame wall would have completely traveled the entirety of the planet and would close its ring. Looking at the destroyed city to my right, I recognized the familiar landscape. As a deeply buried memory started to surface, I let it rise, deciding that I deserved the punishment my own mind was about to give me. We marched into the city center, keeping an eye out for any hostiles on the ground. I set up a command center in the park at the city center and ordered squads out to check the surrounding buildings for civilians and any hostiles that didn't retreat out of the city from our attack. Around an hour later the crisp sound of gunfire filled the air from all directions taking down the patrolling units on the outskirts of the city center. I ordered my troops to immediately get down as the bullets started whipping over our heads. All the renaming of us crouched in the foxholes we dug, unable to do anything with the amount of firepower buzzing over our heads. Within a minute, the gunfire stopped and we could hear the sound of soldiers approaching our position. Peeking my head out with my rifle, I fired off a few rounds at the men who were slowly approaching us, causing them to run for cover. Not a moment later, I ducked back into the foxhole as a bullets whizzed overhead from the other directions. Knowing that if the troops got close enough, they could easily finish us off with grenades, my other men kept up my tactic of firing off a few rounds then ducking for cover.

This continued for a few minutes before a loud bang went off and dirt rained down for a second, indicating that the soldiers were in grenade chucking range. Withing a few more minutes, all but three of the foxholes were vacated with the help of grenades. I, along with the men in the other foxholes, all stood up around the same time and let lose round after rounds at the approaching squads of hostiles, taking out at least one full squad before they were even able to fire back. Properly infuriated, our enemy pushed further and more aggressively, taking out the last of my men besides my right hand, the only one who could actually keep me sane in situations like this. That's when the grenade came flying at us and flipped my rifle in my hand so it acted sort of like a bat, and whacked the grenade back to where it came from. In the moment when I was preoccupied, the Commanding Officer of the encroaching forces snatched my right hand out of the foxhole and held a sidearm to his head. He yelled at me to stand down before he would end the man who he was holding I glanced down at him, noticing the look of a man who knows he is dead and is waiting for his body to catch up with his mind. I had seen it before many times, you find that the same look goes on too many people in a war, too many know that they will die before it happens, and too many died in agony, with no one to comfort them in their last moments. I dropped my rifle to the ground, hoping that maybe he had some humanity inside him and watched as his finger tightened on the trigger of the gun, watched as... I snapped myself out of the memory before anything else happened, but I already felt the pain of living through the tortures of war once again. I blinked the single tear out of my eye and stared at the approaching fire. I put up a shield with the dark matter in my body and hoped that it might allow my plane to get through the end of the world, as I needed something to do when I was the only thing alive on the planet. I concentrated, ensuring the barrier was solid as the wall of fire collided with the barrier. The world light up in a brilliant flash of blinding white light and seconds later it all went black.


	2. A New World

Chapter 2: A New World

My mind slowly started to float back into consciousness, bringing the beginnings of a massive migraine with it. My senses barely starting to come back to me, a began to smell something familiar, but I could not put my finger on what it was. As I slowly started to regain feeling to the rest of my body, I realized that I was in a sitting position, which meant the energy shield I had created around my ship had worked, although the ship sounded too quiet. I opened my eyes a little bit, to make sure I did not blind myself from the sunlight. After a few moments, after my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I looked straight ahead and saw something I knew should not exist.

There was... trees. I closed my eyes for a good second and opened them again but to no avail, the trees stayed put. "Wha... how?" I mumbled under my breath, my brain unable to form complete sentences. Mental slapping myself, I glanced down to check on my ship systems and found a much bigger problem. My ship had lost power, which should not have been possible with the experimental generator siphoning energy from a contained black hole that was embedded in the rear of the fuselage. Twisting in my seat, I found that my right foot was stuck in the very morphed metal wall of my cockpit.

"Well that's just great," I mumbled, bending down to unfasten the straps on my boot. Sliding my foot out carefully, I gently tapped the metal floor to test the heat before placing the rest of my foot down. I went to examine the rest of my body trying to find the origin of the tingling sensation slowly crawling through my body. A moment after it started it faded away, so I told myself ill look over it later, focusing on the most important matters at hand. Popping off the canopy of my ship, I climbed out and surveyed the ship and surrounding area.

Taking a quick look around at my surroundings I started taking notes of the situation I was in. "Crash seems more vertical than horizontal, judging by the size of the crash zone," I noted aloud to myself, "Left wing partially detached and right wing buried in the ground." Moving towards the back of the craft, I opened a hatch leading directly to the power core. "The whole things dried up, but... that should not be possible... it was supposed to run on an infinite source of energy, more specifically, a black hole..." I murmured I a sat down to contemplate what could have caused any of this.

I started to piece together a mental list of things that I would need If I wanted to be active on this planet and find out exactly where I was. I needed food and water if I wanted to do anything physical, and a way to communicate if there was anything intelligent on the planet. There were other things that could be useful if I did, but I need to focus on the necessities at the time. Standing back up, I started to rummage through the storage compartments, pulling out anything that could be of use.

Sometime around an hour later, I had a few piles laid out in front of me. The first and smallest pile contained my food and water, enough supplies to last me a little over a week. The slightly larger pile next to it contained a bunch of equipment, ranging from tools to entertainment that would help make life easier while exploring or relaxing. The third and largest pile contained most of the weapons from my ship, which I intended to get rid of as soon as possible. I had had enough with war and this world did not need me to go around blowing it up.

Moving back to the cockpit of the plane, I removed two duffle bags and the ships black box. Heading back to my piles, I shoved the food, water, and tools into one bag the careful placed the explosives into another. Picking up both of the bags and slinging them over my shoulders, I started my march into the unknown.

Barely within five minutes I was getting jumpy, which didn't happen often. Hearing something move behind me, I spun on the heels of my feet to face whatever was there. My foot slipping on the mud, I slipped and fell backward. With a snort most likely of laughter, whatever was watching me from the bush moved away. Standing back up, I placed a lot of pressure on my injured ankle and felt it almost slip out from under me. Leaning back against a tree, I could not help but mumble, "Now that... is a problem."

Okay, so the ankle was not the huge issue here, but that fact that it had not healed almost instantly was a cause for more concern. Ever since the lab accident that one day so long ago my body had extreme regenerative capabilities, healing most of my wounds almost instantly. I knew some basic medical, but most of it involved wrapping wounds tight and using parts of buildings to splint broken bones.

Pulling myself back to my feet, I ignored the pain in my foot. Finding a fallen branch that was suitable did not take long, and I started to hack off the excess bits with my knife. Pulling out some tape, I tightly wrapped the bottom of my foot and my ankle with the branch. Content with my amateur medical care, I decided to settle down next to one of the larger trees for the night.

Pulling some food and water out of my first bag, I turned my attention to the other, carefully pulling out a small tool set along with a small and complex key. I next pulled out a bunch of white metal containers and a sharpie, placing those to the side. Next, carefully and ever so slowly, I lifted one of the smaller missiles from the bag and proceeded to screw off its nosecone. Placing the key in the keyhole under the nose, I slid the casing off the missiles and stared at the maliciously crafted weapon.

Slowly throughout the night I would take apart the missiles, removing the payloads and organizing them in the metal jars. Resembling the now useless missile, I would place the empty bodies of the missiles aside. Whenever a white jar got filled or I finished with a weapon type, I would put the lid on a label the container based on its contents. I continued throughout the night, exhaustion dimming my senses to what was going on around me.

The sun woke me up, shining down through the canopy of the forest, and my first thought was that it is much too hot. I mean, compared to having napalm checked at your face, the weather was like getting ice dumped on you, but it is not every day you have napalm flying at your head. My eyes began to wander before resting on one of my duffle bags and the trail of rappers that was leading away from it. Groaning, I pulled myself to my feet mumbling "Day one, food supplies raided, off to a great start so far Flare," under my breath.

Approaching the bag, I heaved it up and noticed a few things. First, it was heavier than when there was food in it. Second, there was a nice big hole torn in the side and third, a wild animal fell out. Startled, I shuffled my feet back a bit and looked down at the creature. Upon hitting the ground, the creature snapped awake, and obviously startled, ran into the underbrush. It looked vaguely familiar, with its dark brown and light gray color scheme, sort of like a raccoon.

I could not help the feeling that I had seen it before and it was not the "hum... I am sure I have seen you around before," feeling. It was definitely more like the feeling of when the newest enemy tank rolled into the battlefield demolishing everything when I had only seen the blueprints before. I shrugged it off, knowing the answer would come to me in all the time I had doing nothing around here. I collected the rest of the edible food and water and placed it in my remaining bag and marched downhill, hopefully towards the water.

I had just started to head down a very large slope when I noticed a problem. It was not the fact that every living thing that could move moved away from me when I came near. That part was understandable, they probably have never seen a human before. The problem did not come from my ankle either, altho that was still giving me some pain. The problem was that I was being followed, there was always a rustling behind me when I walked but never when I stood still. I had no clue who was tailing me, or more accurately, what was following me.

"Well, there's my water... and a massive cliff, just my luck" I muttered as I looked down the cliff face. There was a lot of rocks, roots, and outcrops that would make climbing down easy. Shrugging, I slid off the edge of the cliff and started my long descent downwards. Sliding my feet from foothold to foothold and careful scrambling down the side of the cliff, I made it about halfway down before taking a quick rest.

I was about to start heading down again when a loud explosion sounded somewhere overhead, shaking the entire cliff face. My right hand and footholds both snapped off the cliff, sending me spinning towards my left. My back slammed into the cliff as my bad tumbled off my shoulder and started to fall down into the canyon. I leaped off the canyon wall, chasing down my bag, realizing what I needed to do.

The bag contained an Air to Ground Anti-Personnel bomb, the AGAP for short. It had the destructive power of a 1 megaton nuke, along with a blast range of a little over half a kilometer. Its main weapon core was condensed plasma, so it did little damage to anything non-living but shredded apart living organisms. I knew the bomb would detonate when I hit the ground and would create a lot less of everything in its blast range. I also knew my suit could absorb most of the blast, saving everything but those right at the epicenter of the blast.

Streamlining my body, I reached the bag in seconds, grabbing onto it and placing it right up to my chest. I moved my body into a more skydivers position, but leaving my arms clenching to the sides of the bag. In half a second, I hit the treeline and felt my leg break while I curled my body tighter around the bomb. Moments later, I hit the ground and felt a microsecond of pain before it all went black.

* * *

"What do we do with him?" a voice said,

"He's dangerous, he single-handedly punch a hole through time and space," said another,

"He also sacrificed himself for living creatures he didn't even know existed," noted a third,

"He could save the world..." said the first,

"Or destroy it..." mumbled the second voice.

"So what do we do?" said the second,

"We gamble," stated the first,

"We give him back to the shadows," said the third.

* * *

The darkness was suddenly filled with a blinding white light and a rush of pain followed by numbness. Thinking myself dead, I was curious to why I still felt the wind, still heard the rustling of leaves when I heard something land next to me. I opened my eyes and stared in disbelief.

I found myself looking at something I knew should not exist.

I found myself looking into the eyes of a Pokemon...

More specifically, the eyes of a Zoroark.

* * *

 **Well, there's chapter two, hope you liked it.**

 **If you have any suggestions on how I could make my writing better, go ahead and drop me a PM or a review, I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing.**

 **I will be attempting to upload chapters every two weeks but that may or may not change with the start of my Sophmore year in High School starting soon.**

 **And finally: Thank you to those who liked and reviewed my first chapter, all of that really helps to keep me writing**


	3. A Fresh Start

Chapter 3: A Fresh Start

I tried lifting my head up and my body did not agree with me. Everything suddenly got all bright and fuzzy as the image of the Zoroark became more of a distinct black colored blob in front of me. I saw the blob get closer, not even feeling him as he rested his hand on my shoulder, mumbling something. All I heard was the distinct ringing in my ears as I recognized something making noise nearby me. I saw the blob lean back, then run off into the forest, leaving me to my killer migraine that was developing rapidly.

It took a little while, but sight came back while everything looks a lot more... vibrant than before... before what again? Oh... that's right, I jumped off a cliff after a bomb so it didn't kill everything in the forest. Probably not one of my best ideas but even without the antimatter coursing through my veins giving me outstanding healing, I'm somehow alive. Again.

The next of my senses to come back was my hearing, which to say, went from loud ringing to very amplified. I already had outstanding hearing and a knack for hearing objects moving through the air, things like mortar shells, but I picked the later up in the war. The forest was just plain loud, I didn't hear any creatures, they must have run off, but the leaves in the wind just bugged my ears.

Still not really able to move at all, I just kept staring at the sky as the feeling of my body slowly started to creep into my mind. The first thing I felt was the soft fur like thing that surrounded me. That was not right... fur? I'm pretty sure I should be naked from the force of the explosion that I was hit with. It still much too painful to move, I noticed something else. My nose felt much longer and as I focused my eyes on where my nose was supposed to be I found something very different there.

I tried to mumble a what the out loud, but the only thing I managed to get out was a painful grunt. That, in turn, managed to make my head hurt more, which didn't help with the fact that my brain was dying with trying to fathom what I was seeing in from of me. A snout, I had, of all things, a snout. And it was covered with a layer of black fur. I sat in disbelief for a few more moments before trying to sit up to see the rest of my body.

It was at that moment when the Zoroark came back and saw me clearly struggling to lean my head down.

"Hey," he started quietly, but it sounded more like someone shouting into my ear. He must have seen me flinch when he started because he lowered his voice to barely a whisper, making it sound normal to me. "If you're struggling, don't try and move. I brought you some berries, they should help any... conditions you might have."

He moved to my side, holding out an oran berry for me to eat. I attempted to open my mouth but got a scream of protest from my jaw, only allowing me to barely open my mouth. The Zoroark, seeing my struggle, decided to crush the berry in his and let the juices drip into my mouth. The effects were instantaneous, I could feel my mind starting to clear and my tense muscles starting to relax shortly after the majority of the first berry's juices were swallowed.

After a few more minutes of him feeding me many different types of berries, I felt like I had just drunk a dozen of expressos. It was not the most comfortable thing when your mind says you can do something while your body physical can not, but I was finally able to stand without needing anything to keep me standing.

"We should get going, we can talk about this," he said, gesturing to my body, "when we get to a safer location."

I looked at him questioningly, still thinking about my sudden transformation into a species that I didn't even think existed in the physical world.

Seeing my face, he clarified, "There are many human settlements nearby, and as you are a Pokemon, I don't think either of us wants to get captured. The humans might be ways away, but we probably attracted attention."

Just then, the sound of a helicopter punctured the air. I looked up and saw a chopper with a very familiar large red R on the side of it. My eyes widening in fear, I looked back at the Zoroark who was still looking at it apprehensively. I tapped his shoulder, "need, leave, now," I managed to croak out as a warning as he glanced back at me.

"Follow me then," He said, glancing back at the helicopter headed our way before moving off towards the forest. I slowly followed him, hoping that he could lead us to safety. Even if my information was outdated, I didn't want to meet any possible version of Team Rocket anywhere on this planet.

We had walked at a semi-brisk pace for a while, moving along the forest floor. Luckily, it seemed the helicopter flew around for a bit then headed back to who knows where. We were climbing the side of a mountain, but it was more like I was walking up a waterfall with my new body. It didn't help that just because the Zoroark in front of me was the same species as myself does not mean he has tips on how to handle walking.

"We should stop here," he stated, "your no good to get to the next cave before nightfall, and I don't want to be here at night."

"Yeah, that's... a good idea," I managed to get out in between deep breaths. My body had been screaming at me to stop for a while now, but I wanted to make sure I was well away from that Team Rocket helicopter. Nodding to me, he walked off into a cave as I followed. We had just made it into the cave before I promptly collapsed onto the rocks.

"The name is Alex, I never did introduce myself properly, I guess we were just too busy running," he looked down for a second before bringing his head back up with a smile, "You seem to have taken jumping off a cliff and turning into a different species thing better than most would,"

I stifled a laugh at the old memories of all the weird things that happened during the war before responding, "Well, this is a first time to have my body changed, but if you ever see the things I have you come to realize that unexplained events happen, and you can't let them bother you for too long, because worrying won't cause the problem to go away." It much was easier to talk now that I was able to just lie still on the floor. Maybe I should try that if I ever have a PR meeting again.

"Where do you come from? And what are you anyways, because I'm pretty sure normal humans don't turn into Pokemon," Alex asked curiously.

"I come from Earth, altho, Pokemon didn't exist..." well... they did, but not in they way they do here I mentally added before continuing. "As for who I am, I really don't know anymore."

"But we are on earth, how could you come for here without knowing that Pokemon exist, they were around since the beginning of time..."

Looking at his confused face I responded, "My best guess would be that I'm in a different dimension, but I don't know for sure."

"Alright... but do you at least have a name? Because I'm not calling you Zoroark,"

"Huh, these first world problems I have," I mumbled under my breath.

He looked up questioningly, "Whats so problematic about telling me your name?"

"Well, firstly, the callsign I usually use might have some bad connotation in this world, and secondly, its a new world for me so... I want some change in my life, a name that represents what I am."

"Well pick something fast, I can tell your about to lose the battle of staying awake,"

"Names were always difficult for me... I'll tell you when I think of one," I mumbled with a sigh.

"What am I to call you then? Boy?"

"For now, just call me whatever," I said before laying down to rest for the day tomorrow. "You know, rock is a lot comfier when you have fur covering your body..." I mumbled before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

 _Inside the Dream_

 _The ground is hard and rocky while covered in a layer of dust. There is no plant or animal life anywhere in the surrounding space._

 _A small convoy of a few trucks and two armored cars can be seen driving through the area, approaching much rockier terrain, a perfect spot for an ambush_

 _The view shifts to someone sitting next to the driver of the forward truck_

"This is Escort-1, ready to proceed," a voice says over the radio.

"Escort-2, ready to go," follows shortly after,

"Transport Alpha checked and ready,"

"Transport Beta, we are go,"

I picked up the microphone and responded, "This is Mobile Command, all units cleared, proceeded to the drop-off point."

 _All of the vehicles begin to take a twisty route through the rocks, ensuring that any big ambush spots are avoided_

A head peaked out from behind the front seats of the truck and said, "Sir, we are coming up on the last possible choke point before the city limits, intel suggests they know about the convoy so this is most likely where they will make their move."

I nodded slowly, before picking up the microphone, "All units, we are approaching the last possible high-risk zone, be on the lookout," I placed the mic down and looked back before saying, "Thank you, Sargent"

I turned back to the front just in time to see a large chain of detonations go off on the cliff face with a jaw-rattling boom. The driver of the forward escort barely swerved out of the way of the rocks tumbling down into our path of travel, while our truck hit them straight on. We were chucked up against the dashboard when a rock pelted through the left window slicing across the drivers lower back.

I could hear the groaning of metal as the truck shifted under the weight of the rocks, shifting slightly. I looked up and saw the Sargent come through the door

"We're boxed in," he started quickly, "we can't go forward and a regiment is behind us, we have reason to believe that they just want to destroy the weapon so we can't study it."

"Alright, get the men out of the trucks and around transport alpha, we can't lose that cargo or we will be defenseless from whatever they are planning."

The Sargent nodded before returning to the back of the truck. I heard groaning from beside me and I looked over the truck driver next to me.

"Ughh..." he slowly started to sit up, "I... my legs... I can't..." he muttered before slamming his fist down on the dash.

I quickly unbuckled from my seat and examined his injury. The rock had cut straight across his exposed lower back, slicing clean through the spinal cord. I reached down and unbuckled him, before placing his arm over my shoulder and lifting him out of his seat.

He grunted in pain before muttering, "What are you doing? I'm just gonna slow you down, you need to help defend the cargo!"

"And I'm not just going to leave and injured man behind, so stop whining and focus,"

"But..."

"That's an order," I grunted before he could finish.

I stumbled out of the passenger side door of the truck, squinting slightly at the bright sunlight. I started to move to the back of the command truck as gunfire started to go off. That is when I heard someone shout the word you really don't wanna hear when guarding a truck.

"RPG!" rang through the air as a fast moving projectile flew through the air and collided with the side of transport alpha. The blast rippled the air and I went to one knee to keep my balance with truck drive situated on my shoulder.

"Sir, reinforcements from Mayville have an ETA of 1 minute!" someone shouted to me.

"Too late," the truck driver muttered as he pointed at t transport alpha, a bright light emanating from the hole punched into it, "The device is already going critical"

"GET TO COVER, NOW" I shouted over the sound of gunfire. Darting forward and to my right, I dropped the truck driver right behind a rock as my men scrambled to get behind something as the transport detonated in a massive explosion.

I watched as the metal was shredded apart from inside and a massive fireball spread out over the ground, spreading out before going up. I watched as the dust kicked up as the shockwave went flying out in a ring around the explosion. I felt it hit me as the shockwave tossed me off my feet and into the air before coming down hard on the ground.

* * *

I shot awake, panting heavily. I brought my hand to my face before seeing a paw with red claws pass in front of my vision, making me nearly jump out of my skin. I almost freaked before the events from yesterday came rushing back, allowing me to catch myself from hyperventilating.

I looked over to the from of Alex on the ground, his chest rising and lowering at a steady pace, indicating that he was still asleep. I sighed, knowing I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, not with the new nightmare still fresh in my mind. I quietly got to my feet, walking towards the cave entrance. I took one last look at Alex and walked out into the fresh night air.

A few feet from the cave I noticed a small outcrop, large enough to sit on. Trotting over to it, I began to climb up the rocks to reach the overhang a few feet above my head. I reached the ledge and rested, my mind is not used to how fast my body would get worn out. I looked up at the moon and sat there, listening to the sounds of the night.

Tilting my head slightly to the side, I continued to curiously look up at the moon. I thought it looked just a tad bit smaller than the original moon on my planet. But the size, it matched in dimensions with the moon after it got part of it ripped off in the orbital conflicts of the later parts of the 600th year during the war. Shrugging, I sat there for a while longer, just thinking about the mysteries of the universe.

It was nearly dawn by the time Alex came out of the cave. He looked around for a few seconds before noticing me sitting up on the rocks. Trotting over to me, he approached with an annoyed look on his face.

"Hey, stupid on the rocks, next time... don't go disappearing on me like that," Alex called up to me.

"Why would I disappear," I asked, "I have no clue where the food is, and besides, I don't think I'm exactly fit to go anywhere alone."

"Right... the food. I'll go scavenge some berries, you just wait at the cave. I'll be back in a little." he started to walk off before turning to look at me, "Oh and... hurry up with that name of yours before I start calling you whatever you act like."

I swore I heard something along the lines of they only stay for the food before heading back to the cave, sitting just on the inside of the entrance. I watched as the forest slowly came alive with the rising sun, the day Pokemon beginning to move about. The world felt so peaceful, all the Pokemon moving about without worry, able to live without fear. It was everything I fought for, the whole reason the war escalated in the first place. We fought for freedom, while our enemies didn't want to control the world, they just wanted to enforce a global government. They probably could have gone about doing that in a better way than attacking all the independent governments, however.

I turned my gaze away from the forest and looked at the side of the mountain, watching the morning light filter through the trees. There was something missing from this world, and it was not human presence. I had a good feeling that that was definitely there. I was alone, the world was inhabited, but not with those I had worked so hard to defend. Both sides fought for their ideals, and both sides lost in the end. In the end, the planet burned to dust, and while I could see a peaceful future, I just wished that everyone else could enjoy it too.

I sighed, I felt like a shadow of my old self, no one to fight for and most annoyingly, no knowledge of anything on this planet. I could probably be a type and move dictionary, but surviving in the wild as a Pokemon, not a clue. I looked out over the sunrise, deciding on something to call myself. I would always go by something, no one knowing my real name because that put everyone close to you at risk. I was a shadow of myself, so why not represent that in my callsign. I would go by Shadow, because even when the sun is bright, the sun does not touch every part of the world.

* * *

 **There's chapter 3... and yes, Shadow got turned into a Zoroark.**

 **This took longer than I wanted to because well, let's just say the beginning of this chapter was not good before I rewrote it and leave it at that.**

 **Anyways, I hope you are all enjoying the story so far, if you have any tips on how I can improve my writing, please don't be afraid to tell me.**


	4. A Spark

Chapter 4: A Spark

We had started traveling in the warm summer- wait, was it even summer? Whatever, it was warm. Traveling in the warm air when a large group of helicopters could be heard off in the distance. Alex and I climbed up to a vantage point to observe helicopters from above the canopy of the forest. We watched as the small dots in the sky all hovered over a large clearing in the woods, marked with scorch marks.

"I really hope the technology left on my ship is too advanced for them," I mumbled gravely.

"...What?" Alex looked bemused.

"Well, I don't really want any organization to get their hands of some of the massively destructive weapons that I could not destroy. I mean, look at this world, so peaceful and not to mention vibrant. Where I came from, those weapons sucked the color out of everything. The planet was a dull gray and... I don't want the same thing to happen here,"

Alex looked confused, "Why do you care so much about what the humans do? I doubt they would be able to destroy this world, not with all the Pokemon who would defend themselves."

"Human greed. It's bottomless, and for the technology, the guns on my ship are highly focalized bursts of plasma. If someone were to defocus that and be able to power it, the blast from such a weapon would be massive."

"...You lost me on highly..."

I looked over at Alex with a glare, "focalized plasma, think liquid fire that moves fast. Then focus tat into a beam. So what would happen if someone had a really big gun to shoot a big beam from?"

"Well... you lost me further into your explanation than last time!" Alex stated shyly.

I mumbled something along the lines of, "why do I even try anymore," before standing up to continue marching to who knows where. Speaking of who knows where, "So, Alex, do we have a destination or are we just meandering wherever?"

"We're headed to my home... of sorts," he mumbled.

"If you get any more excited about this, you might faint!"

All that got out of him was a quite grunt. Along with some glaring. And maybe a few huffs.

I decided to say no more after that, just walk and enjoy the sights. I looked out at the forest, watching as a flock of pidgey, or spearow, or some other bird type, flew out over the tree tops. I noticed every small detail. The way the water glistened off the leaves in the morning sun, how the trees shook when a pokemon moved through them.

After looking around a bit I took a deep breath in through my nose and was immediately overwhelmed by the number of smells there were. I stumbled and clutched my head as my senses overloaded, blurring my vision for a second. I felt a hand steady me a looked up to see Alex there.

I heard him say, "You okay?" as my senses started to go back to normal

"Yeah... just no more deep breaths in from my nose for a while. That was quite the experience."

"What does your nose have anything to do with your head hurting?"

"Simple answer, I'm still used to human smelling which is not nearly as sensitive, and wow... human smell really does suck..."

"Still don't understand how smelling has anything to do with your headache,"

"My head was not expecting so many smells when I sniffed the air. And my head did not like being that surprised,"

Alex still looking confused, I put it in the best way that would relate to him, "You evolved from a zoroa right? Well, how did it go your first time walking on two legs instead of one?"

"Well, it was bit weird, but it got normal quickly, but what does... oh I see, new body, old mind, just like an evolution,"

"Exactly. And now that I think about it, I had the white light of an evolution too... it was just mixed in with a lot of red and orange... you know what, forget I said that," I finished shaking my head vigorously, jolting myself out of my slur.

It was around midday when we stopped marching off to I don't know where, and we settled down for some lunch. Alex managed to find a large assortment of berries, along with my new favorite, a razzberry. I also tried a bunch of berries I didn't recognize, some I liked, others not so much and I nearly launched an ember attack after Alex tricked me into eating a tomato berry. Lunch was mostly good, at least there was no stealthy assassin trying to kill me.

After the delicious berry munching fest, I felt it best to do a little bit of body toning. That involved a pathetic amount of pushups and a good amount of sit-ups before I couldn't go further, which to say, is horrid to what I used to be able to do. Looks like I won't be doing anything physically exhausting anytime soon.

"Well seeing as your training session came to an abrupt end," I glared at Alex as he tried to stop snorting before continuing, "Maybe I'll just ask you a few questions."

"Well, I answer with what I know, but don't ask about this planet," I waved my arms dramatically, "Because... then I got NO clue,"

"Well... have you ever killed?"

"...I was in a war... for 1,000 years... Do you really need me, to tell you, the answer to that question?"

"Uh... well... I really didn't think many humans killed..."

"Must be because they have pokemon... so, anything else?"

"How well can you fight"

"Well, it may not look like it but, no one could beat me in hand to hand combat. I still know how to do all of the stuffs but I'm not sure how much strain my body could take."

"Could? What is that supposed to mean?"

I gave him a sideways glare before continuing, "well... I really haven't fought anyone here... so... who knows!?"

"Yeah. Right. Well, we can add that to the list of things to do,"

"What. You coming up with a training regime for me or something?"

"With that pathetic 'training' earlier today, I figured something of the sort would be good so your not completely dead weight,"

"Thanks... but I'm not so sure about the 'dead' thing, I have this bad habit of not dying,"

After that, we walked or jogged for the rest of the afternoon. Around whenever the heck it was that we ate dinner, we found a good cave to seek shelter for the night.

I laid there, staring up at the roof of the cave, finding difficulty in reaching the dreamworld. Whenever I closed my eyes the sounds came back, the never ending sounds of a living hell. The screams, the gunshots, the bombs going off around you. The feeling of abject terror and helplessness stuck with me until my body overpowered my stressed mind and pulled me into sleep.

* * *

" _Confirmation of hyper-matter charge at 11.1, 15 clicks."_

 _1 minute on the clock_

" _3 confirmed possible targets, the Striker, the Albatross, and... us."_

 _I glanced up at the enemy frigate, sitting motionless as its main gun aimed right in between three of our ships. At most, 2 seconds to aim the gun. 5 seconds to stabilize the beam and no time for us to get out of the way._

 _53 seconds to wait_

" _Activate protocol 7.44.9, standby for emergency evac and core release." I shuddered at the thought of what could happen if a fully charged hyper-matter beam would do to an active hyper-matter reactor._

 _The crew scrambled around, standing near their designated escape pods, keeping a constant eye on the computer equipment, hoping our enemy, The Red Legion, would slip up and aim the gun too soon._

 _20 seconds to wait_

 _All stations and all ships reported in clear for emergency evacuation. If the gun was not aimed at their ship, they would commence emergency rescue ops, or continue to bombard the enemy fleet. The fleets ships let out a full forward firing solution towards the hostile cruiser on an intercept course with a rescue corvette. I watched as two battleships decked it out, broadside after broadside, with each other, rounds ripping through both of their hulls._

 _The computer speaker rang out across all ships, all decks, "Target Confirmed. DRASTIC Flagship, The Skyhook."_

 _7 seconds_

 _The first escape pods ejected_

 _6 seconds_

 _Important cargo jettisoned out the airlocks towards allied ships_

 _Swaths of fighters and corvettes rocketing out of the ship's hangars_

 _5 seconds_

 _The cannon was fully turned. A shaft of light approached my ship._

 _A single explosion along the center of the ship._

 _4 seconds_

 _One notification, "Reactor malfunction, Cannot proceed with emergency ejection. Please use manual override."_

 _The shaft glows brighter_

 _3 seconds_

 _One message to type_

 _Rescue ships beginning to detach from the allied vessels_

 _2 seconds_

 _One message sent, "Abandon rescue ops. Reactor detonation." Short and to the point, but not enough_

 _The light solidifies_

 _One can look at the darkness of space, willing to lose their mind to the expanse, but never willing to lose their body._

 _1 second_

 _The sirens continue to wail, my hand hovers over the eject button_

 _Ships turning around, heading away from the flagship_

 _People and supplies abandoned, already lost causes_

 _A man, across the beam, grins. Something of his went to plan._

 _0 seconds_

 _The beam fires. Slicing through the ship like a hot knife through butter. Metal screams as it gets torn apart, but the sounds are lost in the vastness of space. Ammo lockers detonate milliseconds after the beam connects. Within half a second, the beam traveled from the port side to the center of the ship. To the reactor core._

 _The hyper-matter reactor collapses in on itself, before detonating in a sphere of pure nothingness. Antimatter. It covers the ship in microseconds. I see nothing but black, but feel every cell in my body get its atoms torn apart and healed together even faster._

 _The DRASTIC CoC2 The Albatross gets vaporized in a flash of nothingness. The DRASTIC CaC4 The Striker gets half of its port side seared off in the blast. Anything in the area between the three ships, escape pods, cargo, fighters, rescue corvettes, all assimilated into the oncoming darkness. Tens of thousands dead instantly, hundreds of others lost to the void of space._

 _I awoke, hours later, floating away from the battlefield. Flashes of white, purple, red and yellow emanating from the ships still fighting. I was wearing nothing, anything on me destroyed by the antimatter, my skin red from the constant healing. Nothing to protect me from the oxygen less cold space, but nothing needed, for I had felt colder. Breathing, I didn't need that either, not with extreme energy production from the antimatter that coursed through my veins from that lab accident._

 _The occasional purple beam of a laser flew by my position, traveling onwards into space until it ran out of energy to keep it stabilized. White, flowed by purple, lit up the swarms of fighters, like bees protecting their hive from the wasps. Red and yellow quickly diminished in the no oxygen environment, losing their ability to breath. But they stayed long enough to know when a cannon fired, and where it hit._

 _Why do we fight? Is it to protect what we think we own? Is it a battle of ideals, a way to prove who is right? We all have a reason in war. Do we fight to avenge? To control? To free the oppressed? Or is it something more? We claim many things when we fight. For freedom. To rule. To expand. To prove ourselves. I used to claim I fought to defend those who can't defend themselves. But when did defending others include blasting science labs into smithereens? When did it include destroying entire cities? When did my reason change, or, what was my reason in the first place? Was to defend others just a fluke, something made by my brain to make this war justifiable. Maybe I fight for something else, something, or someone. Am I defending, or am I fighting to cure the corrupt, the power greedy? What if I am just fighting a war to save one person, to save him?"_

 _A red, blue and white light slowly approaching from the dark. Slowly, the from a ship can be made out in the dark. The engines exhaust are extremely bright in contrast to the dark sky. A spotlight turns on, a blinding white light..._

* * *

… A crash of thunder. I opened my eyes to a loud hissing, noticing a wall of red, orange and white approaching the cave entrance. The steam and smoke billowed off of the oncoming wave, the white getting consumed by the black. A stench filled the air, a stench of burning wood and the occasional animal unlucky enough to be caught in the fire.

A quick rattle of Alex's shoulders got him up. No words were needed, the smell was enough of an explanation. Before we had even reached the mouth of the cave, a voice rang out in the inferno, "Do NOT let any of these pests escape!" Alex took a look at my face, then out the cave and back at my face.

"No," he said, "We are not going out there, I've heard the stories, these humans... they will do worse than kill you,"

"And you're willing to condemn every other pokemon out there to that fate just so you can escape? That's not how I work. If you want to go run and hide, go ahead. But I will fight, spend my last bit of freedom if I have to, to even give a chance for others to escape toady. If I go down trying, so be it."

"Fight with what? You don't even know a single move! And you cant even from illusions, a zoroa could do something better than you!"

"A zoroa beating me is not saying much seeing as I cant even from an illusion, but... there always is other ways to fight." I glanced back at Alex, a twinkle in my eyes. A scary one, but one none the less. I had a plan, and I was gonna use it.

"Whatever you have in mind... It better work."

With a nod from me, we moved to the mouth of the cave, sticking to the inside wall, peeking out around the rocks. There was a large ring of fire, going from one side of the steep mountain forming a ring towards an incline up the mountain on the other side. A hundred or so pokemon were caught inside the ring of fire, and three men, two with their stun-sticks and pokemon, and one with a holstered sidearm blocked the only exit path. The two forward grunts had their pokemon out, suppressing any pokemon who tried to fight.

"Hmm... How good are your illusions?" I asked, a slight smirk emerging on my face.

* * *

The plan was devised, now we just had to pull it off. We slipped in and out of the crowd, moving towards the far edge of the walkway. My teeth rattled and heart bleed when a powerful Hyper Beam dug a small trench in the ground, followed by the sound of terrified screams. The smell of things burning was so much more overwhelming to my new nose, but I pushed onwards, through the smoke and fleeing pokemon.

I watched as the few strong pokemon attempted to retaliate, only to be beaten back by the flames and countless pokemon attacks. I listened as the parents comforted their children, their quite cries standing out in the chaos. We moved closer towards the blocked escape route, diagonally towards the edge of the cliffside leading downwards.

"Make sure none of these monsters escape!" A voice booms over the ruckus. Slowly, more and more of the pokemon are captured, first, those who fought, then those who were too weak to escape. Shouts of the trainers commanding their pokemon to use flamethrowers and embers to keep the fire burning strong ripped through the air.

"Hey look, two extremely rare pokemon! Let's gettem!" one grunt shouted to another, before ordering a flamethrower straight at us.

"We need to disappear," I shouted, diving away from the column of fire splitting us in two. I watched as Alex concentrated for a second before moving forwards.

A shout of "Hey! Where did those pests go!" told me that the illusion worked like a charm.

Moving quickly under the cover of Alex's illusions, we reached the cliffside.

"Go, get into position, I'll be there as fast as I can. Take the upper cliff route, but save your strength for the real action."

"You sure this will work?"

"We always have plan B,"

Alex hovered a bit before nodding and heading off, still hiding. I started moving forwards, crouching low to keep my balance and on the cliff edge, making my way towards the three humans halfway up the path. I had to be careful to not get noticed now that my cover was gone.

"Stop fooling around and capture those pokemon you idiots!" A shout from the man with the holstered pistol along with the many following shouts of "Yes Sir!" confirmed our suspicion of who the operation commander was. Sitting just behind the front line, all I had to do was wait.

I watched as the commander shifted his feet, widening his stance. I saw his fist clench, leaving only the pink finger to tap against his leg. Seeing his holster empty and his weapon sitting on the ground behind him, I rushed forwards, breaking past the line of wild pokemon. Before any of the humans could give the order to attack me, I dropped into a slide, moving under a koffing and past a doduo before using my bent leg to spring back up onto my feet. Moving past the forward two humans, I ran straight at the commander. Ducking under a sloppy punch, I twisted around him, backpedaling straight to the gun before picking it up, fingering the safety to off, aiming and...

CRACK...

The sound of a bullet leaving the gun echoed louder than anything else in the area, causing all of the grunts heads to turn. I watched, along with everyone else, as the commander's limp body hit the ground, a bullet hole in his head. I raised the gun at another grunt, issuing an unspoken challenge. Try me. I dare you. And as if by an unspoken command, shouts of return filled the air as the grunts split, leaving the remaining pokemon to go free.

"Well, that went better than expected," I muttered to the overly dark shadow covering up part of the rock next to me. I looked onwards and the remaining wild pokemon as they walked passed me, some mumbling their thanks, some holding tightly to loved ones. Others frantically searching the small crowd of no more than thirty pokemon for family members, old friends, and small children.

It was odd, seeing a species so different from humans act so familiarly. There were differences, like the way affection was shown, but how most beings acted struck a chord with me. I never saw much of this during the war, there was just too many broken spirits. Humanity, and their easily broken spirits, but a determination that can outclass almost everything. The war coiled me up like a spring, and here I am, doing the things that stress me out. But at least this time I'm having a greater impact on others lives.

 _'If you can't find it in you to smile, give others the opportunity to do if for you, and one day, when you need it the most, those smiles will come back to you.'_

I said those words once, to an old friend. Looks like most advice we give out is in some way going to help those who give it out. As the crowd thinned and the last of the pokemon trotted off into the woods, no one noticed the commander's body disappear. Made my life easier, not having to answer weird questions.

A quite thump sounded from next to me, revealing Alex and the unconscious commander's body both slumped against the rock.

"Do you... even... know... how hard... it is... to keep something like that up?" Alex mumbled out.

"Nope! Never tried!"

Alex mumbled something comprehensible under his breath, before standing up by my side and glaring down at the body.

"So what do you wanna do with the dead weight? And no Alex, we are not gonna kill him,"

"Why not? He deserves it! You just going to let him walk free?"

"Hu. Have you ever taken a life? Are you okay with having someone else blood on your hands?"

"I've hunted before! This isn't different. He is the prey, I'm the predator,"

"So you place yourself above him. If you are okay with killing a defenseless being, if your okay that his blood will be on your hands... then who am I to stop you? Just know, everyone deserves forgiveness..."

Except me. I burned a planet to the ground. I killed trillions. I created weapons that ripped continents apart. I annihilated cities with my fists. And for what? To save a single person? To protect something that might not even have needed to be protected if I had not struck back in the first place? A sigh from Alex brought me out of my musings.

"Well... let's just go. I'm done with this place,"

"But first," I kneeled down and searched the body. I eventually pulled out what I hoped was his communicator before tossing it to Alex, "Snap it, smash it, I don't care. It just needs to be gone."

I watched as he placed the communicator on the ground before smashing it up with a rock. With a nod from Alex, who was looking unsurprisingly calmer now, we set off along the path away from this destruction. I slightly smiled for the first time since I got here, knowing that sometimes the best way to calm your anger at something was to smash something else. The thunderous roar of a helicopter swung its way across the valley, directly over our heads. Two more joining that one, they set off towards a spot in between three mountains, racing across the sky. Specks in the sky grew larger until it was clear that every nearby chopper was headed to the same spot.

"No... no, no..." Alex looked like he had seen a ghost, his body tensed up, ready for him to sprint right into the danger or to get as far away from it as possible.

"What's over there?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder, causing him to stare me directly in the eyes.

"Home."

* * *

 **Well, that took way to long to get out. It seemed that whenever I attempted to do something with this chapter I got writer's block. That along with school made it difficult for me to focus on writing**

 **But no more, I finally released this chapter and already know where I want the next one to go, so that should not take as long to get out.**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed that, and if you have any ideas or tips to make my writing better, dont be afarid to PM me or leave a review**


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